Lessons
by Tk DuVeraun
Summary: (SW:TOR) Aaron is taken by his master to Korriban where he meets his intended and proceeds to learn what being Sith really means. But Korriban is just the beginning of everything he has to learn and nothing comes easily to a Sith.
1. Lessons

"Sailens, this is my student, Aaron. Aaron, this is Sailens Sa'alle. I told you about the agreement I have with Lord Sa'alle, correct?"

Aaron scowls, but gives his future bride a once over. Human, pale, red-hair, scarred, tattooed. His nose scrunches up in distaste. _She looks weak._ His gaze turns back up to his tall, Sith pureblood master. "I remember. I still think it's stupid…"

Darth Rencarn cuffs him hard behind the ear and Aaron pulls on the Force to keep his feet. "Either speak proper Imperial Basic, or remain silent."

Sailens doesn't seem to react to his punishment. She raises a single red eyebrow and it pulls the tattooing around her eyes up with it. A droid zips between them from over her shoulder and speaks for her. "Politics are what make us stronger. You are stupid to shun them so."

_Sa'alles too high and mighty to speak for themselves?_ He reaches out to smack the droid down, but it zips out of his reach. He scoffs. "Forgive me for not being _overjoyed_ to be engaged to someone with no choice in the matter." Aaron's voice cracks halfway through the sentence and he hopes his skin is dark enough to hide the red of shame.

The round droid zig-zags through the air again. "Because engagement to a person of your choosing is vitally important to a twelve year old." Sailens isn't even looking at him when her droid talks. Her eyes are trained on the Sith Temple behind his master.

Before Aaron can shoot back a response, Darth Rencarn has cuffed him again. He addresses the girl, red jowls jiggling as he speaks. "He'll learn to accept it, in time. Until then, he'll stop complaining. _Won't he_?"

The menace in his master's voice is enough to freeze the blood in Aaron's veins. He forces out a small nod.

"There's no need to inform Lord Sa'alle of his belligerence, _is there_?" Rencarn's voice drips with malice and Aaron's gut reaction to is hope Sailens responds positively. Even a legacy Sith doesn't deserve-

"Of course not, my lord. The matter is beneath her notice." Her droid bobs and lets out its mechanical voice and Aaron rescinds all of his humanitarian thoughts about her.

_Let the arrogant brat get it._

She bows to Rencarn, red braid falling over her shoulder with the motion. "If that is all, my lord."

His master waves a dismissive hand and Sailens walks away, feet notably _not_ sinking into the hot, Korriban sand with every step. Aaron tilts his head, wondering if he's seeing things, but his master's voice brings his attention back.

"Don't mess this up. Don't be fooled by Sa'alle's title, there's not a man among them that could not rip out your heart with a blink."

Aaron refuses to let his arms shake from the mental image that calls up. "I'm not going to fail." His voice cracks again, but he presses on, regardless. "There's no reason to make me team up with Sa'alle. I'm strong." He raises his hand and clenches his fist for his master, using the Force to make Korriban's sands swirl up and spray between them.

Rencarn's yellow eyes roll in his head. "I am going to return to my _real work_. If you can manage to torture someone without collapsing and vomiting all over yourself, then I may consider changing the arrangement."

Aaron's cheeks burn with shame and he clenches both of his hands into fists at his sides. The muscles in his arm twitch, wanting to lash out and strike his master, but he keeps them in check.

Rencarn clicks his tongue and nods, the movement sending off reflected light from his facial jewellery. "Scared of retribution, finally? Good, but you'll have to take some risks if you want to survive the Academy, _boy_."

Aaron grits his teeth and waits for his master to depart. When the coast is clear, he lets out a wordless shout and kicks the sand. He growls and stomps back to the temple, his feet sinking into the sand and his steps dragging with the effort. "Stupid Korriban. I don't need to be trained here. I already have _have_ a master."

"You're not here to learn, you're Rencarn's trophy and a pathetic one, at that."

Aaron looks up and Sailens is laying up on top of one of the stone walls leading up to the temple. Her droid bobs and weaves in the air in front of him. He swats at it again, but it dances just out of range. "At least I'm not too pretentious to use my own voice."

Sailens flips off of the wall and lands a step in front of Aaron, feet _still_ not sinking into the sand. She tilts her head to one side and opens her mouth, revealing her distinct lack of tongue.

Aaron jerks back. "Eww."

"This is my own voice. You had best get used to it." She looks down at his feet, boots two centimeters below the sand line. "And to knocking sand out of your shoes, if that's the best you can do, half-breed."

* * *

There's an official ceremony to formalize the engagement and Aaron realizes that Sailens isn't actually her name. His intended's legal name is simply an identification number because she _has_ no name. He spends the rest of ceremony considering why she might not have a name, despite the occasional, painful jets of Force Rencarn sends his way to make him pay attention.

At the end, they stand together, symbolically holding hands and Sailens's droid says quietly into his ear, "Sa'alles must earn their names."

Aaron nods just as they're separated and dragged off to their respective dormitories in the Sith academy.

* * *

"Get up, boy; you're late."

Aaron yells and falls out of his bunk when the overseer shocks him. He rolls to his knees and grits his teeth. "My first class isn't for another hour, my lord."

The tall, Zabrak overseer backhands him and Aaron falls back to the floor. "Not anymore. Darth Rencarn had you moved up to the next class of acolytes. Now get moving, half-breed."

Aaron spits the blood out of his mouth and gets to his feet, staggers towards the door in his bed clothes. He turns right, moving to where the history lessons are held. A burning pain spreads across his back and he looks over his shoulder to the overseer.

"Combat training, wretch."

The overseer throws his training uniform at him and, to his shame, Aaron flinches before catching them. He sprints to the combat area, dragging his clothes on as he goes and using the Force to catch his step when he trips on his sleep pants.

Even if Sailens was weak-looking, her class of acolytes weren't. The overseer, a pureblood like his master, barks at him for being late. Aaron sees the smirks on the faces of his new classmates and can easily read their intentions from their lazy posture and smirks.

_We'll see who's smirking later, you kriffs._ Aaron follows the overseer's instructions and stands in the center of the dueling circle. He tunes out the overseer's voice, focuses his attention on the kaleesh student that makes his way into the circle with him. The other acolyte is taller than him and the weathered marks on his bone mask let Aaron know the other is years older than him.

Aaron puts his attention on his opponent's feet so he can catch the first movement, but something else distracts him. The kaleesh's feet are just as sunk into the sand as his own. If this is Sailens's class of acolytes, she might be the only one that knows the trick with the sand.

His distraction costs him and the kaleesh nails him in the shoulder. Aaron rolls his shoulder back with the motion and then raises his own fist in counter. He makes contact, but dances out of range instead of following through with the motion and leaving himself open. _Thanks for trying to embarrass me. Now I get to show off_.

He laughs and settles into his battle focus. His master might be a sorcerer, but Aaron was all combat. Aaron dances in and out of range, landing a punch here, a kick there, nothing crippling, but aside from the first hit, he's left untouched. A hot wind blows sand on him and it sticks to his sweat.

Aaron knows his white grin makes a harsh contrast with his dark skin. "Had enough, yet?"

The kaleesh growls and lunges at him.

Aaron laughs and jabs his right hand out in a solid punch. The mask gives a satisfying crack under his knuckles. The other acolyte yells, clutching his face before backing out of the circle. Aaron throws his head back and laughs, spreads his arms in victory. Only to be knocked to his knees by the overseer.

"Don't get cocky. We've only just begun."

As Aaron gets to his feet, he notices that the overseer's boots don't sink into the sand either.


	2. Alone or Not

Aaron is a nerf caught in the speeder lights. Wide-eyed, he stares at the overseer, almost hypnotized but the glittering silver jewellery in his face. _The other class of acolytes didn't have to take lessons taught in only Sith!_

The red-skinned overseer says something else. Maybe repeats the question, probably insults him. He fumbles with his datapad and then nails his gaze to it. Aaron doesn't know what the question _is_, but even if he did, he doesn't know _any_ Sith history apart from the five lessons he took with the other class before getting bumped up.

Since "checking his notes" doesn't result in immediate punishment, he clutches the datapad in his sweaty hands and prays to anyone that might be listening for the answer. Miraculously, it comes. Sith words written out in Basic characters scrawl across the electronic screen and Aaron reads them out without wasting any time second-guessing his good luck.

He's rewarded with a curt nod, after which his datapad clatters onto his desk. He lets out a shuddering breath and stares at the datapad in wonder. Before his eyes, the words disappear and are replaced with the sentence: _Don't embarrass me_.

Aaron looks up, peeking around the room to see Sailens with her gaze on the overseer, but her hand aiming a rude gesture in his direction under her desk. _Why would she help me?_

The question haunts him for the remainder of the class. It's not as if he could understand anything anyone said, anyway. Rencarn knew he didn't speak a word of Sith, so why had he been moved into this class with Sailens?

When he's dismissed by the overseer with a parting shock for his trouble, he follows Sailens around the Academy compound, hoping to get her alone. Her droid trails about a meter behind her and he uses it as a guide when he loses sight of her between the buildings. Eventually they're alone between sand-swept buildings, but before he can call out to her, she puts her bare palm flat against the stone.

Head tilted, Aaron walks up behind her shoulder in time to see metal bands shoot out of the stone and trap her hand there. A wicked, three centimeter needle pops out of the stone and creeps towards her skin. He cries out, but she slaps him away with her free hand. The green light from a scanner emits from around her hand and the metal bands retract.

Her droid knocks into his shoulder. "Unlike the reverse, I do not need your help."

A loud grinding drowns out any response Aaron could have made as a secret door opens next to where Sailens had put her hand. He's still staring with his jaw dropped when she sweeps into the room. Dumbly, he follows.

"What is this place?" He turns his head from side to side to admire the room. He's expecting a secret archive, but instead is met with a spartan, though private, bedroom with an inside door he guesses leads to a bathroom.

Sailens flops onto the bed and kicks her boots off. "A legacy room. Only those pure of blood can enter. If you attempted to enter, you would have been injected with a most painful and, _eventually_, lethal toxin." Even though her voice is mechanical coming from the droid, she manages to put emphasis on the word.

Aaron shuffles around the edge of the room and sits on the edge of a stiff chair. "Why did you help me? In class, that is. And, well, why show me this place?"

Her droid putters around the room before settling on a shelf near Aaron's head. "In your failures, it is now more than you that will receive punishment." She waves the question away with her hand.

"You mean… if I do something wrong, they'll hurt _you_, too?"

"Yes." She looks up from the bed at him before shrugging and laying back down.

"...shouldn't you, you know, be worried about that?" He leans towards the bed.

She holds up a hand and spins her pointer finger in her circle, her droid spins on the shelf next to him. "Lord Sa'alle expects you to fail horrifically. She looks forward to watching me suffer through no fault of my own. Disappointing her by ensuring you don't…" Sailens grins at him and with the tattoos around her mouth, it looks pointedly cruel.

"Do you hate her that much?"

She pulls the sleeve of her academy robe up past her elbow and Aaron sees for the first time that her hand and entire arm are covered in a web of thin, raised scars. After giving him time to look, she points to her ruined mouth. "What do you think?"

"I hate my master, too." Aaron's voice is low, far from the arrogant tone he's been using since his arrival on Korriban. "But he's so much stronger than me, what can I do?"

Sailens is staring at the ceiling again, spinning her finger and droid around. "A better question is, 'Why did he take you for a student?' A notorious blood supremacist doesn't just wake up one morning and decide to take a half-sultan as a student."

"Sultan? Really?"

She throws up both hands and her droid rolls from side to side on the shelf. "With the lust party tricks. How am I supposed to know? A better question is 'What is a human supremacist like Lord Sa'alle doing betrothing her only heir to a half-breed?'"

"First of all, it's _Zeltron_, and secondly, it's not 'lust party tricks.' And who cares what they're up to?" Aaron crosses his arms and leans back in the chair.

"Beware your master, beware your apprentice, and most importantly, beware those whose motives you do not understand, for you cannot predict their actions."

"I don't need a lesson on being Sith, Sai."

She sits up and slashes her arm to the side, a frown on her face. "If you are not suspicious of this arrangement, then you do."

"I'm not going to base my life on suspicions!"

"You are Sith. Base your life on staying alive. We're in this together now. If I tell you to wonder, then you wonder." She holds out her hand and the droid floats through the air to land there.

"Why should I trust you?" Aaron juts his chin out.

"Why do you hate your master?"

"Don't answer my-" He cuts himself off, not about to play the 'who's more stubborn' game. "He keeps telling me I'm weak. Just because I don't like hurting innocent people. People who haven't done anything to deserve it."

"I can help you become strong enough to choose your own targets and I'm the only one here who needs you alive. Here, he cannot see everything that you learn. Take advantage of it."

Aaron sits silently for a time. At length, he stands. "Teach me how to walk on the sand."

* * *

Sailens is not a forgiving or patient teacher, but she knows the Force well and shoves Sith language lessons down his throat while they work. "No. Again."

Aaron swats at her voice droid, even though he knows he won't hit it. The slight momentum from moving his arms causes him to lose his balance and fall face-first into the searing sand. "You kriffing-"

She unleashes a kick at his stomach, but he rolls back onto his feet and holds his hands in front of him.

"If you want to lose in a spar, we can do that, too, Sai."

"Use the Force, not your fists." She leaps back, well out of range, and lands just on the surface of the dune.

"I'm a combat Sith, I don't need to fight with the Force." As soon as he says the words, he lunges to the side, avoiding the blast of Force lightning she sends his way.

Her droid float around his head and screeches, "Suspicious!"

"He doesn't want his student to steal his knowledge!" He dashes up the side of the dune towards her, but she jumps away before he gets in range.

"You're not thinking like a Sith!"

At her goading, his feet sink and drag into the sand. "I'm just not thinking like _you_."

She stops, faced away from him, and holds up one hand to keep him from attacking.

He stops next to her shoulder, manages to keep his boots from sinking into the sand. "What is it?"

Sailens gestures to a transport ship on the horizon. "New acolytes. If they out perform you…"

"They won't." His voice is as solid as his footing.


	3. Demonstrations

"Studious as ever, I see." Sailens sits next to him on the edge of the rocky canyon. Where she had been small before, now she was all but dwarfed by Aaron's size. Her red hair is short and loose, a style she started wearing in the last year.

He looks down at her, the 30 centimeter height gap obvious even when sitting. Without looking away from her, he tosses another rock into the canyon. "I just… want a break from it all sometimes. Five years is too long to keep one eye on my back the whole time."

She leans back until she's laying on the ground, legs hanging over the edge. A relaxed sigh escapes her mouth. "Have I really been saving your hide for five years?"

"Hey, I managed the tombs without your help."

"And you've been right chuffed about it ever since." Her droid sets on the ground next to her around and rolls over her hair. "What are you now, seventeen?"

"Yes, Sai. My birthday was last week. You forgot. Again." He can't bring himself to get upset about it, though. Not with her laying there with her academy robe pulling over her-

"I don't have a birthday. Why should I care about yours?" She swings her legs and the Force picks up dust and small rocks to swirl around them.

"Because we're _friends_, that's what-" He notices her smirk and growls deep in his chest. "Nevermind. I can't just waltz into a legacy room like you can. And don't get smart with how you'd let me in. You've got the protection of the Sa'alles _and_ the military, with your father."

Without getting up, she pulls her upper robe off and tosses it into the canyon. She closes her eyes and soaks up the heat from the sun on her pale skin. "Some protection."

Aaron knows she's trying to make a point about her torture scars, but he can't get his eyes off the white skin of her stomach and where it disappears under her chest bindings.

She stretches her arms up and yawns. "And the Moff would never go against Lord Sa'alle. You're just making excuses for your own anxiety. For being raised by a Darth, you certainly don't think like a Sith."

_I can't get much thinking done when you're like that!_ He sighs. "I trust _you_. We're in this together." He lowers his hand to the ground between them, hesitating over her stomach.

"Speaking of being in this together, have you actually thought it through?" Her voice snaps his resolve into place and he doesn't touch her.

"...thought it through, how?"

She cracks her eyes open against the glare of the sun and wiggles her fingers at him. A few small stones float around in response. "As a political arrangement, there are certain expectations."

"Well yeah, I mean, we're going to get married in a few years. Isn't that it?" He swallows when she starts wiggling her scarred torso again.

"You're a no one, of course, but I am the only Sa'alle heir. Even if you are a half-breed…" She trails off and smirks at him.

"We're expected to have a child." His blood races almost as quickly as his thoughts as soon as the thought strikes.

"My family is also particularly high class, so once we are apprentices we will be expected to make public appearance. Both Sith and military. Even if most marriages are political, we're expected to seem friendly."

"Uhhh…" Aaron can't respond to her words, still caught up on making a child with her.

"I was under the impression we got along fairly well." She sits up, stretching and meeting his gaze.

"We do. That is, I mean, I even like you. Making appearances wouldn't be, you know, bad, or, anything." He pulls on the collar of his academy robe, tries to keep his eyes on her face, doesn't do very well.

She raises her eyebrows. "But you're upset by the thought of kriffing me?"

"I hadn't really thought about it before." It all comes out in one word and he pulls his knees up to his chest.

Sailens leans in, her chest bindings brushing Aaron's sleeve. "So you have a problem with it."

"No! Yes!" He jumps to his feet and points down at her. "You're doing this on purpose!"

In a single, slow motion Sailens stands with her hands on her hips. "Are you just now realizing this?"

"Come on," he says, already walking towards her. He scoops her up and tosses her over his shoulder. "You're opening one of those legacy rooms and I'm going to show you exactly what I have problems with."

* * *

"I have no idea how you survived this long with no form at all," Aaron says, while he walks a tight circle around Sailens. At one point he stops and moves her arms up.

"I am not subjected to combat trials. She does not will it and so they do not happen." Her speaking droid is resting in the hood of Aaron's academy robe so that he doesn't miss anything she says.

He steps back and clicks his tongue. "That's still no reason not to learn."

Sailens just raises an eyebrow in response.

"Right, right, I _know_, she tortures you. It's just so important! How are you supposed to protect yourself?"

She breaks the posture and rolls her eyes at him. "I can kill a man with my mind," she says, throwing the practice saber away, "What do I need a lightsaber for?"

Aaron picks it up and shoves it back into her hands. "Because if you have skills she doesn't know about, you won't always be under her control."

"I know that, Aaron. I was the one who told _you_ that about sorcery. Unless you were not _listening_?"

"Look Sai, you can smart talk and shake your chest all you want, but I'm going to teach you combat." He corrects her posture, moving shoulders and legs until her stance is correct.

She growls and shakes her head, red hair flying. "This doesn't feel right."

"Well it is! I've been in combat training since I could walk."

"You've also a different body from me! My center of weight isn't located where yours is."

Aaron opens his mouth to retort, but then closes it and stares at her critically. He moves back in and adjusts her body this way and that, frowning the entire time.

"I'm not your mannequin."

"I'm trying to do this right, Sai! You need to be able to defend yourself physically."

"Why?" She bares her teeth at him.

"Because it's only a matter of time before someone tries to attack you and sorcery leaves evidence. Sa'alle isn't the scariest name on Korriban anymore."

"It should be."

Aaron's hands clench into fists and he grits his jaw to keep from yelling at her. "I just want to keep you safe."

"Says the one that constantly needs me to pull him out of the fire." She straightens and drops the practice saber again.

"You're all I have, Sai. Why is it so hard for you to understand that I want to keep you?"

She stares at him for a while before raising her hand. Sailens's droid floats out of his hood and over to her. She presses a few buttons on it and then lets it hang in the air over her shoulder. Then, she meets his eyes again. "Because we are Sith."

Aaron sighs and puts his face in his hands.


	4. Ties

"_What kind of decrepit, brain-rotted sod would do that? Do they think the overseers are imbeciles?_"

Aaron wakes up at the sound of Sailens's voice, but finds himself alone in his dormitory. He blinks and rubs his eyes. "Sai?"

No answer.

He sits up and looks around the room, but aside from his bed and cramped armoire, the room is empty. He scratches his head.

"_Not that I am unskilled at noticing such an egregious change, but doubtless there are Overseers more observant than I._"

He thinks, _I know it's her voice, but she doesn't _have_ a voice, she talks with the droid. And where is she anyway?_

Sailens's critical rambling pauses. _Aaron..?_

"Sai?" He leans over the side of his bed and looks underneath it, but there's still nothing. "Where are you? Can you hear me?"

Again, there's no answer, but Aaron feels a prodding inside his head. His mind flashes back to his master doing _something_ to him that resulted in a similar feeling. He yelps and curls back up in his sparse bed. _Get out of my head!_

_If this is as I believe, there is no chance of that, Aaron._ Her voice is in his head, soft and gentle in a way it never is with the droid.

_What's going on_? He asks in his mind.

_I believe we've a Force bond, now._ A distinct sense of curiosity comes with her words in his head.

He takes a shuddering breath and stretches out. _I didn't realize a Force bond meant… Telepathy. Rencarn was just asking me the other day if I'd made any Force bonds yet._

Sailens doesn't answer immediately, but Aaron's brain starts calling up memories of her yelling "Suspicious!" at him. When she does respond, the words are slow and measured. _Why would he ask you such a thing?_

Aaron relaxes and smirks. _They're fairly common between strong Force users. He said I should form them easily_.

More silence.

Aaron jumps a meter out of his bed when his morning alarm goes off. He stares at it for a moment before shutting it off with a touch of Force.

_I do not believe I will allow you to form Force bonds with others._ Her mental voice is firm.

_You're not jealous, are you_? Even though he asked the question, he's not sure if he means jealous of his ability to create Force bonds or jealous that he might connect with someone else.

_Anyone else you bond with will be able to delve into my mind from _our_ connection. That is unacceptable_. Her tone is clipped and brokers no argument.

In a deeper, more private part of his mind, Aaron thinks, _I never woulda thought she had so much emotion in her voice_. Then he frowns when the implications of her words sink in. _You're right. I don't want to put you danger. ...I don't want to leave myself vulnerable like that, either, actually… Should I ask Rencarn about how to prevent them?_

_No_!

Aaron _thinks_ he feels a spike of fear from her. He rubs a hand across his face.

_No, Aaron. I believe I can acquire a… a trinket that will prevent you from forming more bonds._ Her mental voice is shakey and… unsettled? It's nothing Aaron's ever heard from her before.

_Right. Whatever you say, Sai._

_Don't tell Rencarn!_ Her voice is sharp.

_I won't, I won't. _His eyes go wide and he stares at the alarm clock he'd shut off. "I'm going to be late!" He scrambles around the tiny room and yanks his academy robe on. As he rushes out of the room, he sends Sailens one last thought. _I trust you when you say not to tell him. Trust that I won't._

* * *

Aaron touches the trinket underneath his robe and watches the milling Sith and Imperial socialites. It was nice to be off of Korriban, but now Aaron felt like he was spinning his wheels as Recarn's apprentice. _We're supposed to be learning, not play-acting in front of these nobodies._

_Are you not impressed by this luxurious hall and decadent food?_ Sailens smirks and tilts her head, the gold tinsel in her hair shifting and sparkling in the bright, artificial light. She was having a much easier time of it. Being mute had the advantage of no one deigning to speak with her.

He pulled at the collar of his robe. _Maybe if they spoke Basic. Or if these robes were comfortable._ Across the hall, he sees another apprentice trip and drop a tray of drinks. Aaron cringes. _That won't end well for him_.

_Not at all_. Sailens subconsciously leans forward to get a better look at the resulting strike of Force lightning. _One benefit of Rencarn not teaching you is that he isn't punishing you._

He reaches the rub the back of his head, but stops just short of messing up his hair. _Raven says I'm lucky for it. Apparently, Recarn is pretty free with his Force lightning._ Aaron pauses._ Yes, I know, suspicious._

_At least you're-_ Sailens cuts herself off as a short, bejewelled pureblood approaches them. She smiles, large and false, and gives him a polite wave. _Don't forget your greeting_.

Aaron resists the urge to chew his tongue off and then begins the usual song and dance for speaking with an unknown Sith. He plasters a smile on his face while the stranger responds.

_He's just bragging about his estate. Sounds like a gaudy mess._ She pretends to take a sip of her drink.

Aaron compliments the man appropriately, though he stumbles over the pronunciation. _Rencarn and Sa'alle wouldn't be caught dead speaking to these nothings_.

_Of course not, that's why they have us_. She flicks her wrist and the champagne in her glass splashes out and lands on the floor rather than her dress. Sailens tenses.

_What-_ Aaron leaves his own question hanging as a tall, lithe woman with sharp features and dark hair sweeps in front of them. His eyes drift to the neckline of her scalloped, black gown.

The newcomer bows first before Sailens and then gives Aaron a formal nod. She addresses Sailens. "A pleasure to see you here, my lord."

Sailens frowns, her mouth pulling its tattoos down with the motion. She gestures to Aaron. _Tell her, "This is unexpected._"

He echoes her words. "This is unexpected."

"Old habits die hard, as they say." The woman's lips are dark red, a stark contrast with her milk-white skin. She turns her gaze onto Aaron. "I am Na'li'a, my lord. A _professional_ of the court, thought I have kept to myself in recent years."

"I'm Aaron… Apprentice to Darth Rencarn." _Professional of the court?_

_Later_.

"An honor." She bows. "Our friend is wondering if his gift is working properly." She raises the hairless ridge above one of her eyes.

_Tell her it is doing its duty and that our friend need not worry._

"Uh… It's working. They don't have to worry." This time his hand makes it to the back of his head before he remember not to ruffle his hair.

"Always good to hear. Do remain in contact." She bows and Aaron sees her elaborate headdress shift forward. "And congratulations on your upcoming nuptials."

"Er, thanks." He stares at her as she walks away with her train of her gown sweeping away her steps. _What was that about? Who was she? Who's watching us?_

Sailens ignores his mental questions, instead turns her attention to a steward to hand over her empty champagne flute.

_Sai, I trusted you about the trinket…_

_It's my father. He made the trinket._ She turns her face away from him, but he can read her emotions from their Force bond.

_You're father? The Moff? How could he…_

_The Moff isn't my father. His blood is tainted, unworthy. The one who made the trinket is a pure human, as am I._

Aaron's mouth opens and closes as he tries to process this information. _And that woman?_

_My father's wife. A courtesan before my father caught her eye._

"Sai…" He lifts his hand to touch her shoulder, but drops it just before making contact. In the private part of his mind he thinks, _I cannot show that I know any of this._ He shakes his head. "Suspicious is right."


	5. Confessions

"I love you." Aaron winces after he says the words. He busies himself removing the formal, heavy, itchy, way-too-hot robes in hopes that having his hands busy will take the sting out of Sailens's scolding. When they don't come and the only sound in their bedroom is the shuffling of cloth and the quiet whir from her voice droid, Aaron dares to turn back to his new wife.

She has his back to him and is using both her hands and the Force to pick the many pins and ribbons out of her hair. Her own formal clothes are in a heap by her feet. She meets his eyes through the mirror. "Congratulations?"

"You're not… angry?" He moves up behind her to remove the last gold pin at the back of her head. Aaron drops it on the vanity and puts his hand on her scarred shoulder. His dark skin is a sharp contrast against hers.

She tilts her head up to meet his green eyes directly. "Pointless ceremonies aside, I am pleased with this arrangement. And short of the birth of our child, we are quite done with them."

"You're not going to lecture me about the dangers of being in love?" He moves his hand to her cheek and brushes his lips against hers.

"We're not Jedi. Our passions make us stronger." She pats his cheek, her polished nails glinting in the dim light, and then turns back to the mirror to strip off the last of her jewellery.

Aaron rests his hands on her shoulders and watches her movements in the ornate mirror. "It's more than just passion. I love you and everything we are together. It's steady and stable. Calm."

"Does your Zeltron blood make you a poet?"

"No more than my human blood makes me…" He struggles to find a word and then breaks out laughing when he sees his wife's expression. "See? I'm no poet."

"As long as you don't start prattling on about 'the power of the Darkside' you can say whatever you like, Aaron Sa'alle." She smirks at him, blue eye sparkling.

"More like Sailens Cerar."

"A wordsmith now?"

"Cerar was my father's name. I found it in Rencarn's records." He rubs her cheek with his knuckles. "Our lives are public since we're Sith, but this can be… private. Just for us."

Sailens turns and looks up into his face. "I have a name. A true one, from my blood father. Cassandra Cerar."

Aaron leans down and kisses her.

* * *

Sailens hisses when Aaron dabs at her stomach with the sterilizing gauze, but she does nothing to stop him. Her hands ball into fists in the duvet on top of their bed.

"Why does she do this to you? You're more scars than skin." Aaron bites his lower lip and keeps trying to clean the wound, but the burned scraps of fabric are fused to her skin. "Rencarn-"

"Rencarn has something planned for you and you're going to waltz into it!" Her droid's mechanical voice turns shrill. It rocks back and forth loudly on the shelf over their heads.

"Sai, I'm worried about you. What if you get pregnant and she does this?" He bites his bottom lip and stares at her.

Despite the pain, Sailens freezes under his hands. Her eyes go wide and her hand snaps up to grab his wrist. "That's the point."

"What?" He turns to look her in the eye and puts his hand over hers on his wrist.

Her nails dig into his skin. "She's a human supremacist. She doesn't want us to have a child."

"But she arranged this marriage with Rencarn."

"But we don't know _why_. And Rencarn is coddling you, but torturing his other students. You're being prepared for something and I'm just another tool in your preparations. Once you do that, Sa'alle will kill you and force me to have a child with a pure human."

"Sai, you're jumping to conclusions. Maybe the torture has finally-"

"What do we have to gain by playing their game?"

"Sai-"

"Answer the question."

Aaron sighs and pulls his hands away from hers. He places fresh gauze over her stomach and lays down next to her. After a moment, he laces the fingers of one hand through hers. "We play their game because there's nothing else we can do. They're Sith; we're their apprentices. We do what they want."

"No, Aaron. I'm not going to let Rencarn and Sa'alle use you for their own ends and then kill you off." She squeezes his hand.

"You're just being paranoid." He turns his head to the side and kisses her temple.

"Sa'alle's motives only make sense if you are going to die soon. If she expected you to live, she'd simply force me to take a lover. Instead, it's this indirect mess." She digs her nails into the back of his hand.

"We don't have a choice, anyway, Sai. This is our life." He pulls her hand to his mouth and kisses her knuckles.

"Why don't we just leave?"

"We can't. We have no where to go. No way to get there."

"My father, my _blood_ father, would take us away." She sits up, groaning at the pain in her stomach. Sailens holds a hand over her belly and looks down at him. "We don't have to do this. I don't have to watch you die."

"I don't know your father. Would he even help me?" He lifts a hand to her cheek.

"I love you. That will be enough."

Aaron presses his lips together and his eyebrows knit together. "Are you sure it's necessary? This is… the only life we know."

"I can't leave you in this danger."

"Okay. Okay. We'll go."


	6. Scenary

"This way," Sailens's voice is coming out of a ventilator mask covering the lower half of her face rather than the round droid Aaron was so used to seeing.

"Are you sure we shouldn't make excuses? I mean, that'd give us a bigger head start…" Aaron pulls the Imperial military cap down over his eyes.

"We're political targets. The suspicion that we've been kidnapped will leave them spinning their wheels longer than any excuse." She stops and stands on her tip-toes, trying to see over the cargo crates and loading docks to read the flight numbers on the ships. Sailens seems to find what she's looking for, because she's pulling on his wrist again.

"How do we know we can trust this ship captain? What if he brings us right to Rencarn or Sa'alle?"

"For two people trying to run away, you sure are running your mouths."

Aaron freezes and turns his head until he sees a tall, red-haired human with an eye patch covering part of his face.

"What are you _doing_ here? You said you would meet us-"

"Now, now, Cassie. Don't get your robes in a twist. Your dad is waiting for you, _there_, but anyway, the hanger's all Darth Vallen's men. They don't see you or me or anything as far as Sa'alle and Rencarn are concerned." The man holds up his hand to stifle anymore protests. "But you should be hurrying on before the slice on the cameras runs out." The stranger pulls on the edge of his eye patch before ushering them into a old, but well-maintained cargo ship.

"Who are you?" Aaron asks, once they're safely inside of the airlock.

"Captain Sebastian. You two can make yourselves at home; this isn't a short flight." Sebastian dusts off the arms of his leatheris jacket and then starts making his way into the cockpit.

Aaron steps forward, Force cracking in the air around him. "That didn't answer my question."

The captain doesn't even turn around to address the remark. He just waves one hand over his shoulder. "Then I guess you haven't met Octavian."

"Listen here, you-"

Sailens grabs his arm. "Aaron. Enough. He's my uncle. Trustworthy, but far too blasé for my tastes."

"I know what I'm doing, Cassie. I've had far more dangerous jobs than shipping two little mice away from the nexu." With that, Sebastian seals the cockpit door behind him, leaving Aaron and Sailens loitering in the hall.

Aaron scoffs and huffs at the closed door, but eventually takes his wife's hand and walks with her through the ship until the find a sitting room. He slumps onto the couch and Sailens sits next to him.

He puts his arm over her shoulders. "Are you sure this is necessary?"

"Yes." She lifts a hand and fingers the mask. "The only way to be free is to live as civilians until they give up on using us for their machinations."

"Civilians? You mean get jobs? Why can't we just-" He waves his hand, palm out. "You know, to get money."

"And risk leaving a trail of sorcery behind? That would open us up to our masters _and_ the Jedi."

"So what will we do? Work in a cantina? We both know you're too proud for that. You embody your Sith legacy." He laughs. "You? Serving?"

"If it keeps you alive, it is worth it."

Aaron sighs. "It's too late to change our minds, anyway."

* * *

_He's back._ Sailens's annoyance rips through Aaron's head. He pauses mid-pour and rubs his temples.

_Stryder?_ He asks. He looks up from the bar, but he doesn't see the blond, scruffy menace. The Blinking Star Cantina and Lounge has the usual mix of aliens and humans, even a single, highly polished Mandalorian, but no Stryder. Aaron frowns and picks the Corellian brandy back up to finish the pour.

_He's here with the Mando'ad. Drunker than usual, as well. I've no idea what he hopes to accomplish_. Her voice is a hiss in his head.

Another waitress, obviously to their mental conversation, takes the brandy from Aaron and scuttles across the cantina, shaking her hips in a way Aaron guesses is supposed to be attractive. The truth is that is just looks sad. Aaron wipes down the bar and wishes they didn't have to work these degrading jobs.

Lord Aucht's voice echoes from his memory. _The shielding relics won't hold up under intense scrutiny. Working in a cantina, a casino, that's your best option. It's the places Jedi are least likely to spend a lot of time… And it'll have to be low class to keep the Sith out._"

He mutters to himself, "I think there's such a thing as too low class."

"The _prince _will have the usual Alderaanian wine. Nothing for his metal friend." Sailens rolls her eyes and leans against the curved counter while Aaron pours the wine.

"You let me know if he does anything… untoward." The Force crackles around Aaron when he says the words and he takes a breath to try and conceal it. _I could just kill him and have his eyes off you forever._

Sailen flips her long, red hair over her shoulder and doesn't respond to either of her husband's comments. She busies herself with preparing a tray for the mustached buffoon. When Aaron sets the glass on the tray, Sailen answers silently. _I wouldn't dignify him with the effort_.

"Now wait just a hot minute, Cerar, my credits are good." Stryder says to the Mandalorian when Sailens walks up to his table.

The Mandalorian is having none of it, however, and shoves away from the table and to his feet in a single motion. "Not good enough for my clan's time, wretch." He nods his T-visor at Sailens before clanking and clunking out of the cantina.

Meanwhile, Stryder is lolling in his seat and none too bothered that his acquaintance just left. "Oh hey... yeh are lookin' goooood."

"And you are looking like I need to have the bouncer carry you out." She sets the drink down, wine splashing up against the sides of the glass from the force. "Will that be all?"

"Nah." He leans forward, as if trying to put his face between her legs and looks her in the eye while obviously licking his lips. "Wanna make some extra credits?"

"I would not protest if you tipped me for everyone else's drinks." Her expression is deadpan.

Aaron snickers behind his bar rag, but quickly covers it up with a cough when a regular seated at the bar raises a curious eyebrow.

"Not like _tha'_. You know..." Stryder makes a gesture that's probably supposed to be suggestive.

"Sorry, I don't speak vague hand gestures. I'm also quite certain you'd be sorry if I did." She looks over her shoulder to Aaron. She rolls her eyes. _Honestly._

Stryder doesn't seem all that deterred. "Oh c'mon, y'know wha' kinda place this is. Tha' Twi..." A vague flip of his hand towards one of her co-workers. "... she went fer it."

This time she rolls her eyes at him directly and turns away to return to the bar and her husband, but he's far too drunk to get the hint, making a uncoordinated grab for her arm.

Aaron sighs and steps out from behind his counter.

Sailens doesn't even look, just slaps his hand away with her empty tray. "Don't touch me, you wretch."

"Hey, yeh can't hit me. Customer is always righ'! And stuff!"

She raises one hand in a rude gesture and still doesn't turn back to him. "Not a policy here."

"I think it is. I think I coul' get yeh fired if'n I..."

Aaron's beside Sai by then, angry and impatient. He keeps his hands tightly at his sides, but Stryder suddenly starts gasping for air.

Sailens pretends not to notice and keeps walking. Aaron doesn't say anything, just Force chokes the life out of the man until he slumps against the table.

_Looks like he choked on something... shame._

_Terrible shame. Can't imagine how it happened._


	7. Repercussions

For a few weeks, life returns to normal. As normal as civilian life could be for two runaway Sith, in any case. Aaron's temper cools significantly without that Stryder character making constant passes at his wife.

The peace couldn't last. Not for them. The unease prickling at Aaron's awareness peaked early one morning. A strange noise, one that might have been more mental than physical, woke Aaron. Sailens woke at the touch of his hand on her shoulder.

She responded to his wordless question with a shrug. Sailens pulled the blankets over her head and waved at the door.

_I'll be right back_. He said in the silence of their bond. Without turning on the light, Aaron dressed, pulling on his heavy leather boots. After a brief pause, he clips his sabers to his hips. He slips down the fire escape, steps silent on the metal.

Once he's on the ground, a shadow detaches from the wall. Aaron recognizes the mask at a glance. _Sai_…

_What is it_? Along with the words, she mentally sends the image of herself dressing in a flash and following him down the fire escape.

_Raven. Rencarn found us_.

"Aaron."

"Raven."

"Cantina work doesn't suit a true Sith, my friend."

Aaron shifts his weight, tensing his muscles, ready to move. With a touch of Force, he loosens the clasps holding his sabers in place. "I'm not Sith anymore."

"We were both forged in the fires of Korriban. We will _always _be Sith."

Sailens snorts as she walks up. Her hair is perfect and held with silver clasps that shine in the dim light of the alleyway. Despite dressing in a hurry, she'd donned her old, overly-tailored, disgustingly expensive Sith battle robes. "Neither of you were ever anything even _approaching_ Sith. Blood matters, Raven."

Raven turns his masked face to Sailens, taking her measure. He sighs. "I have strict orders, My Lady. Stand down as I take this traitor and I have no qualms with you. However, should you interfere, I have no choice but to kill you."

"What do you want with me?" Aaron asks, sabers draw and lit, the purple plasma sizzling in the pre-dawn silence.

"You belong to Rencarn. It's time you repaid him for your life." Raven drew his own saber, a single red blade spraying light on his black robes.

Sailens stares at Raven for a moment before laughing. She bends at the waist and makes a show of gasping for air. "Worm, do you really think you could take what is mine? Let alone kill me?"

"I know I can. Sa'alle has forsaken you and given up all of your abilities." He gestures towards the fire escape with his saber. "Go back to bed. I like Aaron enough that I don't want to make him watch me kill you." He address Aaron again. "Come with me. She'll remain alive, free, safe."

Aaron answers with a blast of Force lightning. "No."

Raven counters it with his saber, as if brushing away an errant fly. "Such arrogance. I am a Lord. Two lost apprentices are nothing to me." Before either of them can react, Raven leaps and stabs his saber straight through Sailens's abdomen.

She crumples to the ground in the dirty alley. Her hands cover the charred hole and the smell of burning flesh wafted through the air.

Aaron stands silent and perfectly still, the gravity of the situation washing over him like a storm. His sabers deactivate and fall from his hands with a clatter.

"Messy business. Sorry about that, Aaron, but it had to be done. Come on. I'll even split Sa'alle's bounty with you. Her mom is paying well." Raven deactivated his own saber and took a step towards Aaron. He didn't make it an inch further.

A primal roar escaped Aaron's throat and knocked into Raven with the weight of the Force. On either side, the buildings shook, sending a cascade of dust falling down. The dust didn't bother Aaron, of course, not with his glowing Force aura that all but blinded the already disoriented Raven.

"Aaro-" His voice cut out as Aaron's aura snapped out and slammed into Raven. The Lord vaporized in a spray of blood and rags.

Aaron fell to his knees. A tickle of dust, the remains of Lord Aucht's trinket, spilled out of his coat. "Sai…" He reached for her with the Force, but felt nothing. He tried to use it to pull her towards him, but again, nothing. "Sai…" He lifted his knee to crawl, but collapsed unconscious, hand stretched towards her.


	8. Resolution

Aaron wakes up and the first thought that crosses his mind is that he's back in the Empire living in one of the decadent Sa'alle estates. The bed is huge, plush and covered with kilik-sick bedding. The second thought is more of a feeling: emptiness. Without Sailens, his mind is empty, lonely. The entire room seems dull and fuzzy.

He sits up and a sob forces its out of his mouth. He leans over and presses his forehead to his covered knees. Aaron has no memory of getting from the dirty alley to this near-palatial room, but it doesn't matter. Not without Sai.

An hour later, when his eyes are raw and dry and his back aches from the position, the door opens.

"Are you done feeling sorry for yourself?" Sebastian asked, head poked through the open door.

Aaron throws out his hand to attack the man with Force lightning, but nothing happens.

"Yeah, not sure how you managed it, but you'd better get used to being Force blind." Sebastian's voice is disgustingly cheery.

"None of it matters without her!" Aaron's voice is low and rough from crying.

"...You do realize Cassie is alive, right?"

"What?" The blood leaves his head and Aaron feels faint.

"Yes, probably involved with how you lost your connection to the Force. She's not quite the same anymore, but neither are you, so-"

"Where is she?" Aaron cuts him off.

"Downstairs. Octavian is helping her learn to walk again. He had to drag her away a few hours ago. She's been just as weepy as you about your loss of the Force. She she be thankful if you ask me."

Aaron turns and sees that he's not as centered on the bed as he first thought. Not only is he skewed to the side, but the blankets are mussed and bunched where his wife must have lain. He turns back to his wife's uncle. "How long have we been here?"

"About a month." Sebastian adjusted his eyepatch. "You've been waking up and eating and such. Mostly just ghosting around though. Really creeped Dani out, which is kinda weird, I mean, she's a Darth, I'm sure she's seen worse."

Aaron looks down at his hands as if they belong to a stranger. "So I'm just going to wake up tomorrow and go through this all over again?"

"Nah, you never did the crying bit before. I came up here because we didn't want to get Cassie too excited. So when you run down and grab her, try to be gentle, she's basically in a new body."

"...What?"

"Don't ask me. I'm the least Sith person here." He gestures to his mouth. "The scars and tattoos are gone, she's got a tongue, the works."

Without another word, Aaron tears off the blankets and sprints to the door. He trips on the rug, tries to catch himself with the Force, fails and falls face-first into the floor.

"One step at a time, boy." Sebastian reaches down and pulls him up easily. "I'll help you down there. Time to get the two knobbly kneed fawns together."

"What happens now?"

"Whatever you want, I guess. As far as the Empire is concerned, you're both dead." Sebastian shrugs and then helps Aaron walk through the hall to the stairs.

"Rencarn wouldn't just give up. I obliterated Raven."

"You did, but you're Force blind now. Even if he did managed to find you, you're useless to him, but he won't, because he was tracking you by your Force."

"I guess. What about Sa'alle? She had a bounty out on Sai."

"New body, new girl."

"It can't be that easy."

"Why don't you just pretend that it is until you're well enough to do something about it. Enjoy the vacation, kid, knowing you two you won't get another."

Aaron grins, the expression feels weird, when he saw Raven attack, he thought he'd never be happy again.

"I guess you're…" He trails off when he sees his wife, whole, even if less steady on her feet than him.

"Aaron! Hurry up!"


End file.
